NATIONAL BEVERAGES. 331 
a name for it,—toddy being only a corruption of the 
Sanskrit word “tade.” Had, therefore, the Polynesians 
once known the process by which they might have ob- 
tained, not only a strong liquor, but also sugar, vinegar, 
and yeast, they would have operated as readily upon 
the cocoa-nut tree in the South Sea, as the people of 
Southern Asia did when the cocoa-nut tree came to their 
shores. Taking, probably, its departure from Western 
America, the cocoa-nut was drifted by prevailing winds 
to Polynesia, where its toddy-yielding properties were 
not suspected ; thence it drifted on towards Asia, and 
there was perceived to be as capable of yielding a fa- 
vourite beverage as the Palmyra, the wild date-tree, 
the Arenga saccharifera, and the various species of the 
singular Caryota palms had done from time immemorial. 
